Angel Killer (Jessica Blackwood #1)
Andrew Mayne
This is a Jessica Blackwood novel. Jessica is a motivated and skilled FBI agent – who also happens to have been a magician in the past. Not one that uses fantasy magic, but one who can do impossible tricks on stage like Houdini. When some unbelievable crimes begin happening, it’s up to Jessica to see through the illusions.
This is a thriller, and it’s a bloody good one! I absolutely loved this book. Jessica is a really engaging character and through her the author makes things that always seemed pretty fantastical realistic. There were little hints of humour that helped keep your mind off the impossibly amazing deadly feats carried out by the Warlock.
What intrigued me the most about this novel was Damien. Enough said, or I’ll give too much away. Or perhaps there isn’t actually anything to give away…. It’s nice to have a male protagonist that is only a sort-of love interest – because the novel is focussed on Jessica’s skills, not her sexual finesse.
I’m looking forward to the next, hopefully something equally awesome will happen. I don’t doubt it, this author has a lot of potential. My one quibble was that it was a little bit aimed at the US public, who would be familiar with the usual roles of the FBI. I just figured that they were the usual ‘Men in Black’, and kept reading! Also, I don’t know all of the places that are in the novel, and so I couldn’t get a good grip on the distances of things.
After I finished this novel I quickly looked on Goodreads and lo and behold there’s a second book and I really wanted to get my hands on it straight away but it doesn’t appear to have been released in Australia. (Phew, that was a long excited sentence).
Go get this book. I’m going give it five stars because it’s got that bit of thriller behind it and enough clues that I want to go back and read began to see whether I picked up everything the first time.
This novel is told from a number of perspectives, and this usually urks me. I still felt irritated with this, because really, it could have been written mostly (particularly Shallan’s) in seperate parts. I didn’t have trouble keeping track of the story threads, but I did feel myself rushing through certain sections to get to the next mention of my favourite characters (mainly Kaladin).
It could be quite a heavy book but Lal makes an effort to keep the action moving and to always have a bit of humour. If not, there was a profound insight being shared, or expanded upon. I particularly enjoyed the notes from her brother’s journal.
So we’ve got a couple of kids are in high school and they all manage to intertwine into facing off the guys that are in charge of Liquidator. You see more and more characters being added to the visible ‘cast’, and yet you aren’t overwhelmed because the story is moving too quickly for that to happen!
For the first chapter of George you don’t actually know what’s happening in the story. George could be a girl or a boy’s name. Instinctively the problem is that 
There’s too much reliance on obvious differences between Heidi and Harper to get some good characterisation happening. I couldn’t have cared less which one wore the pants or the skirt (and isn’t that cover awful? There wasn’t a pink tutu to be seen, thank goodness). Or which one is epic with guys, and the other is completely oblivious.
This is the finale of The Obernewtyn Chronicles. It was originally intended to be 5 books, it extended to 6, and then 7. The 7th book in particular was delayed several times. I expected it to be polished and beautiful, and for the most part it was. Having just read the other 6 books though, I could see plot holes and unfinished business. Also Elspeth spent a lot of time ‘gnawing’, relaxing, ‘gnawing’, relaxing. It got a bit repetitive.
I really don’t remember requesting this novel, and I can’t find evidence for it in my inbox. But I picked it up with a positive will, thinking it would be perfect pool-side reading.
The novel breaks open with a bang, and continues along at a relatively fast pace. This is interspersed with confused love scenes and meaty blood letting. And of course, depictions of friendships that can rise and break in a moment. Don’t think it’s just love and games in their boat, there’s more than that going on.